


Rolling Thunder

by JemTheKingOfSass



Series: Prompt-based MR oneshots [4]
Category: Free!
Genre: Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Light Angst, Nightmares, Panic Attack, Pre-Relationship, Rin and Makoto are 12yo, this series is all old fics being posted now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 00:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemTheKingOfSass/pseuds/JemTheKingOfSass
Summary: “I won’t tell a soul anything about tonight if you don’t want me to, Rin. You’re always safe with me.” Makoto lifted the arm that rested on Rin’s side, holding up his pinkie. “You either. Swear.”





	Rolling Thunder

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh, I love everything about all these boys in their elementary years. I kind of abused the timeline a bit. Let's pretend Rin has a week in August that he comes back to Japan to visit before middle school starts for him. So this is after the first relay when Rin leaves but before his ill-fated race against Haruka.
> 
>  

 

 

“Well, there goes our beach day!” Rin huffed as he hung up the phone and threw himself into the nearest chair. “And Nanase didn’t even make it out here yet! My mom was supposed to be bringing him and my sister.”

 

“Rin, it’ll be okay! We can have lots of fun inside your grandma’s beach house too.” Makoto pleaded with his friend. “Even if it ends up just being you and me.”

 

Rin’s expression darkened and he clenched his small fists. “But I’m only here for another few days and it was supposed to be hot enough for the beach today. It wasn’t supposed to rain!” 

 

“Do you want a hug?” The boy who reminded Rin of a huge puppy gave him such a longing look that he caved in almost immediately because of course he wanted a hug. Only a fool would turn down a hug from Makoto. He nodded and the other boy approached his chair and squeezed in next to him.

 

Makoto threw his long arms around Rin and held on tightly. “I hope it isn’t too big of a storm.” 

 

Rin worried his bottom lip and frowned. “Eh, I’ll be okay either way. Don’t worry about me.” He felt the arms around him cling harder.

 

“I meant for me! You get scared during thunderstorms too?” Makoto sounded so hopeful that he was not alone in this anxiety that Rin wanted to be totally truthful, even though the parts of himself he liked to keep hidden screamed at him to hold back, do not reveal too much. Once you have someone you could lose them, and Makoto does not need to be burdened with Rin’s fears.

 

“Well,” Rin rubbed at the back of his neck. “I mean they aren’t my favorite.”

 

“I get so scared I can’t sleep sometimes. My mom used to come in and hold me when I was way younger, but then she gave me this big pillow to grab onto instead since I got kinda old for my mom to cuddle me to sleep.” Makoto flushed and chuckled out an awkward noise that reminded Rin of a bird he saw dying once on the shore.

 

“Oh well, it’s okay if you get scared Makoto. It won’t wake me up or anything and even if it does, it’s cool. I won’t tease you or anything,” Rin assured his friend, while he knew there was an elephant in the room that was probably going to reveal itself if this storm carried on into the night. Then his awesome friend would know what a big fat phony he was, not a tough kid at all. He would see him as Rin, the pathetic boy who cried when he heard thunder and still missed his daddy so much he could not breathe if he focused on memories for too long.

 

“Did a hug make you feel better?” Makoto asked, his eyes crinkled on his sweet face. “It made me feel better.”

 

“Yeah it did. I feel like it sucks a little less that we’re stuck in the house all day. And I’m getting hungry,” complained Rin, hearing his whiny tone but not being able to stop it as it flowed out of his mouth. He knew the rain was not his friend’s fault. “Let’s find something to eat.”

 

The two boys scrambled into the kitchen and foraged like starved chipmunks preparing for the long winter. The emerged victorious with their arms full of Pretz, umaibō in multiple flavors, Kinoko no Yama, senbei, and Puccho. Rin ducked back into the refrigerator to grab some grapes and snap peas so they were eating healthy and added those to the food pile on the low table in the living room. He collapsed into seiza across from Makoto and they dug in. 

 

After they were sated with junk food, Rin flopped onto his back. “Ahhh, no one ever lets me eat like that. That was so good!” 

 

Makoto laughed. “My mother would kill me if she knew that was lunch. I think she thought your mom would feed us something normal.” 

 

“She knows we’re here alone, my mom told her. We’re twelve, not babies, we’ll be fine. But I bet she didn’t think about food. Ha! We’ll have another awesome dinner tonight too, Makoto!” Rin laughed gleefully. If they ate like pigs for a day it would be fun and it _almost_ made up for the fact that the beach looked less and less likely. The sky was darker now than it had been an hour earlier. 

 

“This is fun, Rin! It’s not a good beach day but it’s a good day,” Makoto stated confidently. This was the first time Rin and Makoto had been alone since before he left for Australia back in spring. While he was bummed Nanase was absent, he was thrilled he got Makoto all to himself for a night during this week-long vacation before he had to go back abroad. They used to have the best sleepovers, just the two of them. He had yet to connect with anyone in Australia like he had connected with his Iwatobi relay teammates. 

 

**

 

“The clouds are breaking up out there a little, do you wanna go take a walk to the beach just to walk on the sand and do something ocean-y since we’re here?” Rin begged Makoto, bored of playing the card games and wrestling they had spent the entire day doing.

 

Makoto balked. “Isn’t it getting late, Rin? It’s after dinner. It’ll be nighttime soon, I don’t know if we should go down to the ocean on a night like this.”

 

“We aren’t gonna go swimming, just a walk. _Please_? I’m so bored!” Rin put on his neediest tone that could usually wheedle anything out of anyone. “Throw me a bone here, Tachibana!”

 

The puppy masquerading as a boy heaved an aggrieved sigh from the depths of his soul. “Okay, but we’re coming back if it looks stormy out there.”

 

Rin agreed rapidly and ran to the sliding back door which opened out onto a stone paver pathway that led directly down the beach. He slammed open the door with gusto. “Let’s go!” 

 

His enthusiasm was infectious. Makoto bounded past him out the door, laughing. “Can’t catch me, Matsuoka!” Together they raced down to the sand, giggling and shouting and creating an unholy ruckus like only two cooped up boys can do.

 

They arrived at the water’s edge when rolling thunder in the distance caught their attention. Huge red and green eyes stared out over the ocean, as Rin hoped that was not the next wave of the storm moving in. His breath caught in his throat as he waited. Another, much louder and much closer clap of thunder boomed around them, which made them both jump. Rin jerked his arm out to grab for Makoto.

 

“Are you okay, Makoto? You’re not scared are you? Do you need me to hold your hand?” Rin babbled, as he clutched the other boy’s hand in a death grip.

 

He heard a squeak from next to him, Makoto frozen in fear. “Yes! Don’t let go!”

 

The second part of the storm blew in quickly, waves already crashed and churned out in the pitch-black water, the sky looked like midnight. Thunder cracked loudly in their ears and lightning flashed brightly on the horizon. Rin felt as Makoto’s hand trembled, or maybe it was his that shook, he could not tell. 

 

“We should go back,” Rin whispered, his voice lost amongst the volume of the roiling sea in front of them. His feet were frozen, his dad was out there. Something warm tugged his hand.

 

“Let’s go, come on!” Makoto yelled to be heard, already turned to go back to the beach house. He pulled urgently for Rin to start moving. “Rin!” 

 

He heard his name and shook his head and allowed his friend to lead them back over the footprints in the sand they had created a few short moments ago. Moments when the skies were clearer and brighter, when Rin could still breathe, before his heart raced and sweat dampened his hairline. The pair of boys ran as fast as they could, they knew it was any second now that the deluge would come and they would be soaked in an instant. 

 

A few drops spattered their clothes just as they got to the house and tumbled inside it, mostly dry but both quivering from the rush. 

 

**

 

“It’s still storming out pretty bad,” Rin noted. He heard how his voice trembled but he figured Makoto would never notice. “Do you think you can handle going to sleep now?” 

 

Makoto sat crouched in the corner of Rin’s room, the biggest guest room actually, as far from the window as possible. He held onto his knees. “I’m tired but I don’t know if I can sleep while it’s this bad out there.”

 

Rin approached him and sat next to him. He bumped his shoulder into him. “Wanna talk about it?”

 

“No,” Makoto admitted. “I just like when you’re sitting next to me. That makes me feel better. You’re not scared and that makes me feel tougher.”

 

Rin swallowed his guilt, this facade would be ripped away from him once they went to bed and fell asleep. He had yet to have a smooth evening when it was a thunderstorm. The weather was getting worse, not better, and Rin was already so tired. He just wanted to go to bed but he wished he was alone. He wished his mom and Gou were here to spend the night. He was so thankful Nanase was not here, then he’d have to lock himself away in a soundproof room so the black-haired boy would never see him looking vulnerable. 

 

“Rin? Are you okay, your face has gone all white.” Makoto’s big green eyes bored into him with concern. 

 

“I’m tired I think. Makoto, I want to go to bed.” Rin did _not_ want to go to bed but he had to hide away from the sweet, tolerant boy who was about to see Rin at his absolute weakest. He was embarrassed already, he felt his chest as it tightened with nerves. Rin hurried away from Makoto and leapt into the bed, where he gripped his over-loved favorite pillow and pulled the covers tightly around himself. He forced his eyes closed, like he could not see the lightning flash against his closed lids or hear the non-stop rumbles of thunder that felt like they shook the house. 

 

As he attempted to steady his breathing and slow his thumping heart, he felt the bed dip at his back. “Makoto?”

 

“I’m here Rin. Do you want to hear a story?” Makoto’s soft voiced soothed Rin. He was astounded at how calming his friend was when he did not even know Rin needed help. 

 

He nodded into the pillow. “Yeah sure, if you want.”

 

He heard a soft chuckle. “Okay well let me tell you about the time I had to help change Ren and Ran’s diapers. My mom told me to hold Ren really tightly, that he liked to wriggle his way right off the towel he was supposed to lay on. Do you know why there was a towel under his butt? I didn’t, I was only like seven! I learned a lot about baby poop that day, but I couldn’t stop laughing. I was horrified but stuck in this cycle of hysterical laughter. So my mom came in while I was-”

 

Makoto’s voice sounded fuzzy and Rin’s head was filled with nothing but his friend’s soft tones as Rin felt himself drift off.

 

**

 

_Something cold and ruthless pulled at him, yanking him viciously down under the surface. He gasped for breath and broke free from the water, his dad waiting for him on the shore. Thunder crashed all around him as the wave above his head pushed at his face and forced him back under, snapping his neck back. He could see the surface of the sea but he couldn’t get out from under the weight of the ocean. The watery fingers circling his ankles kept tugging him lower and lower, the surface getting further away. He couldn’t breathe anymore, he was running out of air. He moved his arms frantically but they couldn’t break him free from whatever was holding him down. The noise of the thunder was still deafening, even as he was drowning. He shook his head, he knew he was crying and screaming-_

 

A loud clap of thunder rattled the windows as Rin bolted upright in bed. Someone was shouting and sobbing, he could hear a frightened child. He pressed his hands over his ears so he could tune out the child’s noise but he could still hear it inside his mind. He gasped for air, his heart was in his head, he felt it in his temples, as it ruthlessly pounded. His stomach was clenched. He gripped his ears so tightly he would not have been surprised if he ripped them off. He felt a gentle hand on his back. 

 

“Rin.” 

 

Red eyes snapped open and over to the source of the voice. 

 

“No no no no,” Rin twitched and shook his head violently, as he choked out any words he could manage. His chest was so tight it burned. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.”

 

“Rin, you’re crying and you were yelling. What can I do?” Even when woken in the middle of the night by a thrashing, weeping mess of a boy, Makoto was unfailingly kind and thoughtful.

 

All Rin could do was stare at Makoto as he quivered, feeling the clammy cold of sweat all over his body, the hair at the back of his neck stuck in disgusting tendrils that hung limply against his skin. He let go of his ears to better hear his friend. “My m-mom sometimes h-holds m-me and r-rocks me until I-I, until I c-calm down.”

 

“Alright.” Makoto eased closer to Rin, and put an arm across his shoulders. He carefully maneuvered Rin down the mattress, right arm pillowing Rin’s head, until they both laid down again. He used his other hand to shift Rin onto his side, so his back was curled into Makoto’s front, like spoons. Even their legs rested against each other, the tops of Makoto’s thighs flush against the back of Rin’s. The larger boy threw his left arm around Rin’s waist and cuddled him close, while Rin clutched his deformed pillow tightly to his chest.

 

“Then what does your mom do, Rin?” Makoto whispered into the back of Rin’s head.

 

“Sh-she talks to me, until I can b-breathe again without st-struggling,” Rin stammered out, feeling totally humiliated but relieved he had not scared away his wonderful friend.

 

“Alright,” Makoto said softly. “Can I tell you about something that frightens me?”

 

“S-sure.” Rin already felt a little more in control of himself. His heartbeat was no longer the only sound he could hear.

 

“I turn thirteen after the summer’s over. I feel like I won’t be a boy anymore, like I can tell I’m turning into more of a man. I think about things sometimes that I’ve never really thought about and, well, I like thinking about them but they scare my too a little.”

 

“Do you think about g-girls?”

 

“Umm, I think about other people.”

 

“Not girls?”

 

“Well, it’s usually someone I know, is that super weird, Rin?”

 

“I don’t always think about girls either. I mean, I _do_ think about girls but...not all the time.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Yeah. Makoto, who do you think about?”

 

“Oh. Just other kids we know, from swim club you know?”

 

“Yeah, me too.”

 

“Does it ever worry you Rin? Changing? Being different?”

 

“You think I’m different than other kids?”

 

“Oh. Well, I think maybe, I’m different and I thought maybe you’re different too.”

 

“Makoto, what if I don’t want to be different than everybody else? I’m weird enough down in Australia, I don’t think I can handle anything else setting me apart.”

 

“I understand, Rin.”

 

Rin took a deep breath, he eyelids felt heavy but he wanted to keep talking. “Are you doing okay with the storm?” 

 

Makoto puffed a breath through his nose that Rin felt blow through his hair. “I’m okay, I think. This one didn’t scare me like they usually do. I think it’s because I knew you were right next to me.”

 

“Tch. Fat lot of good I did by being next to you,” Rin scoffed through his mortification. 

 

“Eh, you did more than you know. Just being you and being next to me was all I needed. Rolling thunder wasn’t half as frightening with you by my side, Rin.” Makoto let out a huge yawn that belied his words. “I am tired though.”

 

“Me too, Makoto. Let’s try and sleep so my mom doesn’t think anything went wrong when she comes tomorrow to pick us up,” Rin planned aloud, already worried about his mother’s reaction to her son’s endless melodrama.

 

“I won’t tell a soul anything about tonight if you don’t want me to, Rin. You’re always safe with me.” Makoto lifted the arm that rested on Rin’s side, holding up his pinkie. “You either. Swear.”

 

Rin hooked his little finger with his friend’s. There was no one he trusted more than Makoto to hold his secrets. He snuggled back into the other boy, fingers linked together, and drifted off to sleep.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> What do you guys think? I am not above begging for feedback on this series which has me chewing my nails down to nothing, each time I find another one. But I keep posting because there is **not enough Makoto and Rin interaction in canon or fandom** , shipping or no shipping.
> 
> Sidebar: I have to Google what all those snacks are, I hope I did my research the first time! XD


End file.
